


your heart is a muscle the size of your fist

by Patrocool (all_the_homo)



Category: The Wayhaven Chronicles (Interactive Fiction)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Leverage Fusion, Canon-Typical Violence, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Gen, M/M, Non-Binary Felix Hauville, Partners in Crime, rook is dead still but its much more relevant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27735403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/all_the_homo/pseuds/Patrocool
Summary: The rich and powerful, they take what they want. We steal it back for you. Sometimes bad guys make the best good guys. We provide... "leverage".Ex-private investigator, Sai Kingston, is forced to steal important documents for a man named Murphy in exchange for information on the man who killed his father and framed his mother. Unfortunately for Sai, he is forced to join forces with a thief named Adam du Mortain, a hacker named Felix Hauville, a grifter by the name of Natalie Sewell, and a hitman named Morgan, and not a single one of them has the word "teamwork" in their vocabulary.
Relationships: Detective & Morgan (The Wayhaven Chronicles), Detective & Natalie "Nat" Sewell, Detective/Adam du Mortain, Male Detective & Felix Hauville, Male Detective & Unit Bravo, Male Detective/Adam du Mortain
Kudos: 2





	your heart is a muscle the size of your fist

**Author's Note:**

> i love wayhaven but kind of hate cops, so here's my compromise lmao.
> 
> i love leverage, have only seen the first two seasons so far because, for whatever reason, I didn't finish watching it like I thought I had. So I decided to write a Leverage au because what's better than eating the rich?
> 
> anyways, detective/adam is endgame, theyre all human, detective was a private eye, not a cop, none of unit bravo are friends before this, and I hope people are actually interested in this.
> 
> fic title is from "your heart is a muscle the size of your fist" by ramshackle glory, chapter title comes from "roll me through the gates of hell" by mischief brew.

If you had told Sai Kingston six months ago that he’d be working side by side with four criminals he had chased time and time again as a private eye, he’d not-so-kindly tell you to get out of his office. These guys had evaded him for years, and Sai was nothing if not stubborn with the tendency to hold grudges for life.

But as it turns out, sometimes changes happen and the outcome is unexpected. Sometimes shit hits the fan, and the only way out is one you would ordinarily condemn. Sometimes, what you have to do isn’t the easy thing, or even necessarily the legal thing, but sometimes its gotta be done anyways.

*

Meeting a client in a warehouse isn’t typically what Sai preferred, but considering his freelance private investigation business has become even more “freelance”, he didn’t have much room to complain. He frowned as he crossed the threshold and cast a casual glance around as he stepped into the main room. He stopped in the center of the room, and idly brushed his auburn curls out of his eyes as he looked at the ring of chairs surrounding a table just in front of him. Six chairs to be exact, one already occupied by a grizzled middle aged man.

“Dr. Murphy, I presume?” Sai asked, tone clipped as he glances at the other chairs in distaste. “I was under the impression that you an I were meeting privately.”

Murphy stood slowly, easily a foot taller than Sai, and a smile crept across his face that sent off all of the alarm bells. Sai pushed it to the side; of course this creep would set off all of the alarm bells. He held out a hand, and Sai reluctantly shook it. “Detective Kingston,” Murphy practically purred. “So good to meet you. I’m so glad you came, please, sit.”

Sai shook the man’s hand and quickly dropped it, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’d rather not, if its all the same to you, Doctor,” Sai said dryly. Footsteps from behind made him turn sharply, looking behind him to see two people walk in, one about a yard behind the other. The first being a tall woman with a kind face, brown hair in curls and twisted over one shoulder. She smiled in greeting, but Sai noticed the confused tilt and brow furrow to her face. The woman behind her, equally tall with long black hair tied in a pony at the base of her neck, had a scowl on her face that only deepened as she noticed Sai.

Then Sai took a second look, and jolts as he realizes that he recognizes both of them.

“Beck Tazi and Dana Papadas. I know you. Tazi, you conned one of my clients out of half a million dollars, and Papadas- you’re a hitman,” Sai said, startled, and he whirled around to face Murphy just as two more figures entered from the other entrance.

A tall blonde with aviator shades and an impassive face was followed shortly behind with a much shorter (but probably still taller than Sai) person with cornrows that reached their shoulders. The blonde stopped short when he saw Sai, leaving the person behind them to bump into him from behind.

For a long moment, there was only silence, and then-

“Is this a set up?”

“Why is there a cop?”

“Hang on, aren’t you that detective that-?”

“We were supposed to be meeting alone!”

“If you’d just sit down-”

“I think some explaining is owed.”

“I don’t fuck with pigs, man.”

“Yeah, look, I thought this was a solo thing so-”

“I work alone.”

“First off, not a cop, second off-”

“Enough!” Murphy shouted, actually managing to shut the five up. All eyes turned to him and he let out a slow breath, brushing invisible dirt off his blazer. All tension seemed to leave his frame and his lazy smile crept back as if nothing happened. “Now,” he said calmly. “Let’s all sit and have a nice chat, hm? Our darling detective is currently out of work, I’m afraid, as are the rest of you. No need for hostilities.”

The blonde- Patrick Hemingway, if Sai remembered correctly- bristled as he crossed his arms across his chest. “Absolutely not,” he growled. “I work solo or not at all. Count me out.” He started to storm out- a tad dramatic if you ask Sai- but he stopped still when Murphy spoke again.

“Very well, Adam du Mortain,” Murphy said casually, pouring tea into six cups on the table, as if he were simply discussing the goddamn weather. “But I’m sure the police would be very interested in knowing a famous jewel thief’s exact whereabouts, and it is an awfully small town here, you know, police are hardly more than a minute away.”

“A minute and ten seconds,” Sai said slowly, realization creeping down the back of his neck. He noted the “Adam” thing down for later- of course a thief would have aliases. Hell, he wouldn’t be surprised if the others did too, but now was not the time to think too hard about that. “If we refuse, you’re gonna have the police arrest all of us. I’m going to take a wild guess to say that you’re also tracking any vehicles we took- easy to find trackers, sure, but not easy enough for any of us to get off and also get away with.”

Murphy flashed a smile as the others exchange looks. “Very good, Detective. Brain still sharp as a tack, even after that little incident you had-”

“Shut up,” Sai snapped as he felt heat rise in his face and neck, his fists curling at his sides. 

“You’re blackmailing us into staying,” Beck said, standing still where she was. At least they were all on the same page there.

Murphy shrugged, apparently undisturbed by it as he finished pouring the last cup. “That’s one way to put it, yes.”

“We could very easily just kill you,” Dana said, already rolling up her sleeves.

Holding hand up, Murphy tutted as if scolding a child. “Now, now, Morgan- it’s Morgan, right?” He smiled in a way that made it clear he wasn’t actually asking. “The funny thing is, you won’t do that. No, no, you won’t, and here’s why- I am not only much more powerful than all of you, but I also have all of your secrets documented in safe places. If I die, those secrets get exposed, and that’s it.”

Dana- Morgan?- seemed to pause, jaw clenched, but she didn’t move forward. 

Murphy looked around, apparently satisfied with what he saw, and he clapped his hands together. “Very good, glad we are all on the same page. Now, come here, come here, please, sit. We have so much to talk about.”

*

Over the course of about an hour and a half, Sai discovered that the names he knew the others as was all wrong, and the fourth person he didn’t recognize was actually a hacker that they immediately knew via username. He also very quickly realized they were all going to be a goddamn pain to work with.

Natalie Sewell was probably the easiest to work with, seemingly a relatively kind woman (at least compared to the others), but Sai knew all too well that Nat was a talented grifter; this whole sweetheart act could very easily be an act, which meant trusting her would be a rookie mistake.

Felix Hauville, a.k.a EkoWrld, was someone that Sai couldn’t get a real read on, or at least what he got, he was sure had to be a farce. Felix, for all intents and purposes, seemed just like a very cocky flirt, your stereotypical class clown type, but considering they had hacked into things like the Pentagon, CIA, Interpol, etc. Without breaking a sweat, something didn’t feel right.

Then there was Morgan who apparently didn’t have a last name. A hitman with dozens, maybe even hundreds, of kills on her resume who could probably snap Sai in half with a well placed punch. He really didn’t think there was much too her beyond her wildly disproportionate fighting skills, but it was part of what made her so dangerous. She didn’t need to catch anyone off guard.

Last of all was Adam du Mortain, a thief wanted in at least 4 countries- and that was only under the alias that Sai knew about. He couldn’t even imagine how many more heists this guy had pulled off that were linked to different identities or even that had no leads at all. Sai figured that if he needed to, he could probably outsmart the others, but a thief as prolific and successful as du Mortain?

All in all, these were the last people Sai would ever choose to be associated with, but what choice did he have? It was just one job and Murphy would give him his payout. Not money, Sai wouldn’t do this for money, but the information he needed in order to clear his mom’s name.

Murphy not only knew the name of the man that killed Sai’s father and framed his mother for it but had the proof to prove it as well, and Sai would get that information if it was the last thing he did.

*

It didn’t take long for Sai to get home that night, and he only barely undressed and made it to his bed before falling asleep, thoroughly exhausted from the intense day they had.

Before he knew it, he was awake again with a soft groan, rubbing his eyes. He honestly wasn’t sure what woe him, but he was a light sleeper and his apartment window was open, so he figured probably a car honking or a particularly loud bird would do the trick. When he glanced at his alarm clock, he noticed it was only a couple minutes before his alarm went off anyways, so he sighed and reluctantly got out of his warm bed. He stretched for a moment before scratching his bare chest and heading out to the kitchen to start his coffee maker.

He was supposed to meet with the team at Haley’s Bakery in about an hour, and he was not looking forward to it, so he’d definitely need the caffeine to deal with whatever bullshit was sure to follow.

He rubbed his eyes as he shuffled down the hallway, going by muscle memory more than anything, and honestly, seeing how yesterday went, he should’ve known better.

“Oh poggers, Detective, I didn’t think you’d have that much muscle being like five foot nothing and looking like you weigh 90 pounds tops.”

Sai froze in place before very slowly lowering his hands to see not just Felix but Felix, Adam, Morgan, and Nat in his living room. He stared at them for a long moment before letting out a very slow and long breath.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“The fuck is “poggers”?” Morgan muttered, shooting a look at Felix, who just grinned. Felix, it seemed, was the only one who had changed from the night before, and they had also undid their cornrows, their hair now a puffy halo almost.

“What the actual hell are you doing in my apartment?” Sai said incredulously. “Get out.”

Nat frowned and stepped forward, her eyes trained on Sai’s chest. Or, more specifically, two even scars under each pec. “Detective,” she said, surprised. “Where did you get those? Those are much too even to be accidental, and Felix told us you had never been in an actively violent situation.”

Sai crossed his arms across his chest, scowling. “Excuse me? First off, not a detective. Second off, none of your business and third off-” Sai turned sharply towards Felix who grimaced. “You want to tell me why you’re apparently telling people my own personal business?”

“Hey, I didn’t dive into your medical records, I just thought it was pertinent to the mission that everyone was aware that you haven’t so much as fired a gun at a live target.”

“Guns don’t mean shit,” Morgan scoffed. “I haven’t fired a gun at a live person in five years but it didn’t stop me from killing people.”

Sai stared at them in disbelief, and then looked at Adam, who was glowering, and who also hadn’t said a word the entire time. He looked back to the group as a whole and pointed to the door. “Get out.”

“Sorry, no can do,” Felix said, leaning back. “This town is crawling with cops, state patrol, and the feds.”

Sai stiffened slightly at that, clenching his jaw. He knew exactly why they were in town, all he could do was feign ignorance. Surely Felix would’ve figured it out already though. “What, you managed to get on their radar already?”

Felix shrugged casually, leaning back on the couch. “Nah, its nothing related to us, just a nasty coincidence.”

Brow raised, Sai regarded Felix for a moment and they looked up, making eye contact. Felix knew exactly what the feds were doing in town. They were giving Sai an out.

He sighed. “Fine. Don’t touch anything.” With that, he ducked in the kitchen long enough to turn on the coffee pot before hurrying to his room to get dressed, head spinning.

It was some sort of weird power move, it had to be. A way to guarantee that Sai wouldn’t kick them out, something to hold over him. These people were hardened criminals, they did some bad shit like stealing, and murder. Literal murder. Why the hell would a hardened criminal just… Not say something like that? Out of the goodness o their heart? No. It had to be a power move.

It had to be.


End file.
